The stock market has begun the year with impressive results showing the best month of January since 1997! I wasn’t even trading at that time! Investors are enthusiast about the US economy and it starts showing on the overall market. Known for more modest and stable performance, dividend stocks benefited from this rally as well.

On February 12th, I’ve decided to pull out 35 dividend stocks outperforming the S&P500. I’ve included both stock growth to dividend payouts and selected stocks showing a 10% total return minimum. My other metrics were as follow:

Stocks over $10

Paying between 3% and 6% dividend yield

Dividend payout ratio under 75%

P/E ratio under 20

I’ve taken off 4 stocks from the original list since I couldn’t get the dividend payout ratio properly from my screener. This should gives you some interesting stock picking ideas…

This makes 35 top performer dividend stocks for 2013:

Ticker

Name

Price

Dividend Yield

Payout Ratio

Industry

P/E Ratio

Total Return

TGH

Textainer Group Holdings Ltd

43.2

4.16

32.99

Transport-Equip&Leasng

11.49

37.67

HRB

H&R Block Inc

24.52

3.26

60.35

Commercial Serv-Finance

18.31

32.09

SXL

Sunoco Logistics Partners LP

60.63

3.6

54.37

Pipelines

15.15

22.99

BOX

SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd

23

5.22

47.04

Finance-Leasing Compan

9.58

21.96

TAL

TAL International Group Inc

43.87

5.65

58.79

Transport-Equip&Leasng

14.67

20.59

PETS

PetMed Express Inc

13.15

4.56

0.07

Retail-Pet Food&Supplies

15.86

19.96

FRD

Friedman Industries Inc

11.95

4.35

43.38

Steel-Producers

10.58

19.47

TUP

Tupperware Brands Corp

76.29

3.25

41.26

Consumer Products-Misc

15.92

18.99

FF

FutureFuel Corp

13.91

3.16

47.1

Energy-Alternate Sources

14.81

17.57

RMCF

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc

12.39

3.55

63.07

Food-Confectionery

19.67

17.33

NL

NL Industries Inc

13.23

3.77

30.79

Diversified Manufact Op

9.9

15.9

SPLS

Staples Inc

13.1399

3.35

28.23

Retail-Office Supplies

14.94

15.31

STX

Seagate Technology PLC

34.82

4.35

12.8

Computers-Memory Devices

4.61

14.81

ALE

ALLETE Inc

46.9

4.05

66.2

Electric-Integrated

19.87

14.45

BLX

Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior SA

24.29

4.94

36.89

Regional Banks-Non US

10.57

14.22

UVV

Universal Corp/VA

56.06

3.56

58.37

Tobacco

11.74

13.57

CINF

Cincinnati Financial Corp

44.4834

3.67

62.98

Multi-line Insurance

18.51

13.43

CA

CA Inc

24.84

4.03

20.47

Enterprise Software/Serv

12.48

13.01

SWY

Safeway Inc

20.32

3.44

36.31

Food-Retail

10.11

12.33

BKU

BankUnited Inc

27.42

3.06

35.07

S&L/Thrifts-Southern US

12.75

12.19

FNB

FNB Corp/PA

11.9

4.03

60.49

Commer Banks-Eastern US

14

12.05

IMKTA

Ingles Markets Inc

19.283

3.42

35.35

Food-Retail

10.62

11.72

GBCI

Glacier Bancorp Inc

16.42

3.41

50.48

Commer Banks-Western US

15.63

11.55

PACW

PacWest Bancorp

27.62

3.62

49.63

Commer Banks-Western US

14.1

11.55

CHCO

City Holding Co

38.49

3.64

53.22

Commer Banks-Southern US

13.65

11.51

HAS

Hasbro Inc

39.96

4.01

55.74

Toys

14.22

11.28

MAT

Mattel Inc

40.53

3.55

55.12

Toys

16.22

10.73

AYR

Aircastle Ltd

13.8633

4.76

30.23

Finance-Leasing Compan

8.16

10.61

CFR

Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc

59.94

3.2

49.11

Commer Banks-Central US

15.58

10.52

OKS

ONEOK Partners LP

58.92

4.82

57.07

Pipelines

16.2

10.5

CLX

Clorox Co/The

80.19

3.19

58.8

Consumer Products-Misc

18.43

10.43

MDP

Meredith Corp

38.05

4.29

60.36

Multimedia

13.73

10.36

BOH

Bank of Hawaii Corp

48.54

3.71

49.16

Commer Banks-Western US

13.01

10.15

QSII

Quality Systems Inc

19.07

3.66

54.43

Medical Information Sys

18.55

10.08

HLF

Herbalife Ltd

36.21

3.31

20.72

Vitamins&Nutrition Prod

9.34

10.02

My 4 Favorite Dividend Stocks from the List

At the beginning of the year, I’ve compiled 30 dividend stock analyses (20 US and 10 Canadian) and created the 2013 Best Dividend Stocks guide. From the Top 35 performer I’ve listed in this article, I have 4 picks in my book! This is without counting Heinz (HNZ) which recently gone up by 20% after the announcement made by Warren Buffett offering $23 Billion to buy the company. It’s still not too late for you to check my top picks 😉

STX – Seagate Technology +14.81%

The company’s financial metrics are currently very strong. STX has overcome the 2011 flood in Thailand with strong financial results. STX is currently buying back shares along with increasing significantly their dividend payouts (19% in 2012).

CA – CA inc +13.01%

CA has a low payout ratio (note; it will increase due to the huge dividend growth in 2012) combined with a very high margin (28-29%) is a great combination for any dividend growth stock. Since CA’s core business is to manage complex IT environments and make it more flexible, we can forecast a great future for such a business model. At a relatively low P/E ratio, CA could not only offer a great dividend payout in the future but also offer stock value gains.

SWY – Safeway +12.33%

Safeway has been able to avoid most of the “Wal-Mart” effect so far due to its leadership position in its markets. It has aggressively bought back shares over the past few years pushing the EPS growth to a higher level while the P/E ratio is lower than its peers. SWY has met financial analysts’ expectations. SWY is part of my book for 2 reasons: high dividend yield and constant dividend growth over the past 5 years.

MAT – Mattel +10.73%

In October 2012, Mattel topped estimates and even raised Holiday sales forecasts. With a very strong brand portfolio combined with an increasing consumer confidence, MAT is going through the Holidays with a smile. With its world leader position, Mattel will continue to rack-up the sales in 2013. The dividend payout ratio is low and the 5 years dividend growth (12.28%) shows a strong dividend policy.

Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of Nike, Inc. (NKE). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis: Company Description: Nike, Inc. is the world’s leading designer and marketer of high-quality athletic footwear, athletic apparel and accessories. Fair Value: In calculating fair value, I consider the NPV MMA Differential Fair Value along with these four calculations of fair value, see page 2 of the linked PDF for a detailed description:

Target Corporation (TGT) is a general merchandise retailer in the United States and Canada. Currently, the company has just under 2,000 stores.Target has a very long dividend growth streak going 46 years strong. Not only has Target been growing their dividend rate for nearly 5 decades, but they recently have been able to maintain a near 20% growth rate of that dividend.

Linked here is a detailed quantitative analysis of Monsanto Co. (MON). Below are some highlights from the above linked analysis: Company Description: Monsanto Co. is a global provider of agricultural products and integrated solutions for farmers.